ONE hundred years ago this week, one of the World’s most famous football grounds, Old Trafford, opened for business.

For much of that century, the ground has been one of the nation’s finest and is currently, by some margin, Britain’s biggest club ground.

But most of Manchester United’s older fans would reluctantly admit that while the stadium is visually stunning, it lacks the atmosphere it boasted 20 or 30 years ago.

As Roy Keane so memorably alluded to with his ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ blast, the Old Trafford punters often resemble mute bystanders.

In the 1970s, the ground was regarded as one of the most atmospheric in England. It boasted seating and standing on all four sides and, until relatively recently, offered fans some of the cheapest football in the top flight. Not now.

In truth, that’s the case with most modern day grounds.

Many built in football’s Premier League boom days - the Riverside included - are proving lifeless now that attendances are dwindling.

The grounds aren’t to blame, however, it’s seats that are at fault.

While there’s no chance of - and no desire for - a return to the huge, unmanageable terraces of the pre- Hillsborough years, the re-introduction of small, easily stewarded standing sections would give football a much-needed shot in the arm.

Administrators have, and would continue, to resist it.

They play the safety card but, in reality, clubs fear that they would have to drop prices if they brought back the terraces.

After all, clubs whacked up prices way above inflation when they replaced terracing with seats, even through Lord Justice Taylor had expressly advised against such a policy in his far-reaching report into the Hillsborough tragedy.

But a price drop is already on the cards in football if current crowd trends continue.

There was, according to the official attendance, 18,417 fans in the Riverside Stadium on Saturday.

There were huge red blocks of unused seats, particularly behind the South Stand goal, something that’s now par for the course.

Imagine, though, if the lower tiers of the North and South stands were given over to terracing and the away fans were moved to the South-East Corner.

Those loyal fans desperately trying to inject some atmosphere into a matchday would be, at a stroke, brought closer to the action and those acres of empty seats, so embarrassing when the TV cameras linger on South Stand goalmouth action, would be moved out of sight of prying lenses.

Fans who stopped attending because they found watching football from seats a sterile experience would be tempted back.

Standing and singing would suddenly be encouraged instead of frowned upon.

Bunches of friends could stand together and enjoy the matchday banter. Let’s face it, that’s why we got into football.

It was a cheap day out with your mates and if the game was good, then all the better.

Sure, the introduction of terracing into grounds would initially cause some logistical headaches but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Of course, it won’t totally solve the problem of those empty seats and there’s no chance of this happening in the near future as seater stadiums are a requirement to play in the top two English divisions. But if a few clubs started a campaign, who knows what could happen.

After all, it’s not as though standing has been outlawed in this country.

Plenty of large rugby league and union grounds still have terracing, as do some lower league football grounds, including Hartlepool’s Victoria Park.

And nearly all of Germany’s top stadiums - most of which were re-built for the 2006 World Cup, offer significant sections of matchday standing.

So why are we waiting? If fans band together and demand standing, it just might happen.